The camp wasn't all that large. There was an outer fence with watchtowers about every 200 meters and then an inner fence for the main prison compound. The prison was divided into two sections with barracks and such, much the same as the accommodations for the garrison. Between the two sections was what looked like an ancient stone donjon, which may have been the original fort from hundreds of years ago. The donjon was where they were sent.

As they were being unloaded from the carriage, they saw what appeared to be some two hundred captured Grelish soldiers being marched into the eastern block of the compound.

The lieutenant dismounted and told two of his men, "Fastucci, Carlino, bring the prisoners' effects."

One of the soldiers nudged Toma with the butt of his rifle to keep him moving. The heavy wooden door to the donjon appeared to be rotting and once inside, their noses were assailed with the stench of mold and other things you didn't want to think about too much.

Not far from the entrance was a sergeant sitting at a desk. Upon seeing the lieutenant, he shot up and shouted, "Attention!"

The nearby guards stood at attention while the sergeant saluted the lieutenant.

The sergeant sat back down and took up his pen. Opening the logbook, he then asked, "Names?"

The lieutenant nodded to the soldiers carrying their stuff.

Toma, Dru and Goldie exchanged uncertain looks. Their situation was bad enough without being put in a cell with some kind of monster. They were led down below to the lower level, where the narrow corridors were dimly lit by a few oil lamps hanging off the walls. The smell was much worse down here, enough to make you want to vomit. Actually, both Dru and Goldie looked like they might do just that, but they were both heroically trying to hold it back.

They were taken down the second corridor to the third cell on the right. The guard drew his truncheon as he warily unlocked the door. Inside the cell they caught their first glimpse of the dreaded She-Bear. Largely hidden in the shadows, all you could make out was a mess of shaggy black hair and filthy rags.

You didn't really want to touch the grimy walls, but you wanted to disobey the guard even less. He clamped shackles on their ankles, Toma and Goldie on their right legs and Dru on her left. Why she got a different leg wasn't clear.

Once he was done shackling them, the guard said, "Turn around."

They did so.

They only nodded numbly, prompting the guard to strike the bars with his truncheon.

The guard seemed to notice Toma was louder than the others, so he pointed his truncheon at him and said, "You. You got a lot of energy. Too much energy. I'll watchin' you."

With that, the guard exited the cell, locked the door and headed back with the soldiers who had escorted them. Their voice faded into the distance as they walked off.

Once they couldn't hear the Ilyrians' voices anymore, Toma then asked Dru, "Well, now what? We just wait for Zadok to come?"

The mention of the word 'Zadok' caused the She-Bear to stir, growling and straining against her chains. The three of them watched he warily for a moment before Dru answered Toma's question.

The She-Bear growled some more.

He was sitting down, curled up in a ball. He was never the most energetic person to begin with, but he sounded completely drained of all life.

Toma shook his head.

She was right, of course, but they still needed a plan. Before Toma could spend any time trying to think of something, he heard someone outside their cell.

Toma and Dru looked at each other, then she went over to the bars and said, "Mr. Duran? Is that you?"

Dru looked surprised for a moment, then said, "Why, yes. Yes, I do."

Duran laughed.

Uncertainly, Dru reached up under her skirt and drew out a little dagger about ten centimeters or so. Toma figured that was the 'protection' Duran gave her. Thinking of Duran sticking his hands up under Dru's skirt to strap the knife to her thigh only served to get him annoyed at the smuggler again.

Dru held up the knife, leveling her throw but then stopped at the last minute.

Toma wasn't sure he liked the idea of the responsibility being on him, but he wasn't going to chicken out with Dru putting her faith in him. There was three meters at most between the two cells. Coming up short was less of a concern than bouncing the knife off the bars or throwing it so far that Duran couldn't reach it.

Toma sighed.

He threw the knife and it managed to go right between the bars and, by the sound of it, bounce off the wall.

Toma didn't have a better plan, so he was left saying nothing.

Toma shook his head.

Seeking their agreement, Dru looked to Toma and Goldie and asked, "Toma? Aurelius?"

Goldie didn't say anything, prompting Dru to say, "Aurelius?"

Annoyed, Goldie told her, "There is nothing I can say or do to change what is going to happen. Must I give you a meaningless vote of confidence?"

Even though Toma had his doubts about this plan working, he didn't like the way Goldie expressed his misgivings.

Toma could hardly wait.

There really wasn't much of anything to do to pass the time. You could try sleeping as much as your back would allow, but the thin layer of straw didn't afford much padding for the stone floor. Talking only worked so far as you had someone to talk to and something to talk about. If a guard came by, they'd bang on the bars and tell you to shut up. Naturally, you weren't afforded any niceties like a deck of cards or something like that. Even if they would give you a book, the light was too dim to read by. Toma couldn't even begin to imagine how someone could put up with this sort of thing for days, weeks, months and years on end without going completely stark raving mad.

Without any view outside, it was impossible to keep track of the time. You could guess assuming the guards observed some sort of schedule. It seemed like they would make the rounds about once an hour, but who knew how strict they were about it? If you were among the well-behaved prisoners afforded two meals a day, you at least knew when morning and evening were. Unless you were being taken to the Professor, meals were the only times the guards would enter the cells, so suppertime was when Duran would launch the escape attempt, if he'd recovered enough for it, that is.

Toma's cell came first. Besides the two guards, there were a couple of trusted prisoners doing the actual work. Toma had taken to calling such prisoners toadies. The toadies would serve the meals, change out the straw and empty the slop buckets. It wasn't all that enviable, but it was better than being chained to the wall all day.

Their meal was a small bowl of gruel and a little brown bread roll that was as hard as a rock. You could probably kill a man with the roll if you used it as a weapon.

Toma and Dru both struggled to conceal their anticipation. Goldie had been sulking all day, so you would never expect something was going to happen looking at him. Apparently it wasn't the She-Bear's day to eat because they skipped over her.

Then it was Duran's turn. What was he going to do? Would he go for it?

One of the guards carried a checklist with him and Toma could hear him talking to Duran.

Whatever Duran said was too indistinct to hear. The guard couldn't understand him either.

It was still impossible to make out what he said when he repeated himself. Toma could hear the guard get closer to him.

This was presumably where Duran would stick the knife in the guard and somehow manage to get the other one and keep the toadies quiet or kill them, all while still being chained to the wall. Now that Toma really thought about it, it didn't seem like a very good plan at all. He must've had something else in mind.

There was the sound of some struggling, then the guard spoke in a language Toma had never heard before. What was more, Duran replied in kind. He sounded surprised at first, then there was some back and forth between them. Toma thought he heard Zadok mentioned a few times and Ostivar, maybe Aurea too.

Confused, the other guard said, "Trimble, what's goin' on? What're you sayin'?"

There was a muffled cry, followed by one of the toadies screaming, "HELP! HEL—"

His screams were cut off by a sick gurgling sound. Presumably to the other toady, the first guard said, "You're gonna be quiet now, ain't you?"

Wisely, the toady was silent.

There was the click of shackles being unlocked and the sound of chains rattling. The guard said some more things to Duran in the mystery language, then Toma saw him exit the cell with Dru's knife in his hand dripping with blood. Duran appeared shortly thereafter carrying the guard's keyring. As he was opening the cell door, Dru asked him, "Mr. Duran, what's going on?"

Duran chuckled.

He unlocked Dru's shackle first, then Toma's and lastly Goldie's. Toma was of course glad to be rid of the shackle, but Goldie just kept sitting there.

Goldie didn't budge.

Dru went over to him and knelt down, saying, "Aurelius, what is it? We need to get going."

Then mention of Zadok caused the She-Bear to stir and start growling.

At first Dru looked like she had made critical mistake, but she quickly played it off, saying, "Surely you already knew we were using assumed names at the inn."

Losing his patience, Toma went over to Goldie, seized him by the jacket and lifted him to his feet.

Dru tried to intervene.

This seemed to win him over, however reluctantly, but now the She-Bear was really getting agitated. She was struggling against her chains and shouting in some foreign language. Dru looked at her, then said to Duran, "Mr. Duran, the keys, please."

He handed her the keys, but before she could go over to the She-Bear, Toma caught her by the arm.

Against his better judgment, Toma let her go. She carefully approached the She-Bear, then crouched down to meet her eye level. She held up the keyring and spoke to her, apparently in her own language. The She-Bear settled down. Dru first removed the muzzle, then the iron collar and the shackles on her wrists. Now, the collar and the manacles were one piece, like a sort of pillory, connected by heavy iron bars. As Dru struggled with the weight of it, the She-Bear pounced on her, pinning her to the floor.

Dru started talking to the She-Bear in her language and not only did she get off of her but also picked up the iron bar. Dru got back up and unlocked the chains at the She-Bear's waist and lastly the shackles on her ankles. Once freed, the She-Bear tried standing up, but her legs gave out on her. Dru tried to support her, but she wasn't remotely strong enough to hold up a hulking woman like that.

Toma wasn't all that eager to do so, as much because of the risk of the She-Bear ripping his arms off as the smell, but he went over to them all the same. The She-Bear growled at him as he approached, but Dru said something to settle her down. Toma took the left side and Dru the right. She guided them to her place, where she offered the She-Bear her water cup. The She-Bear greedily chugged it, prompting Dru to chide her to drink more slowly, or that was what Toma imagined she was saying. She then offered the She-Bear her bowl gruel. As with the water, she just gulped it down and then started licking the bowl.

The She-Bear glared at him. She may not have understood exactly what he was saying, but she seemed to figure enough of it out to know he was talking about her.

Goldie just nodded to his cup and bowl. Annoyed at him being uncooperative, Toma went over and took the cup and bowl and delivered them to the She-Bear. He was too busy being annoyed at Goldie to be nervous about her.

The She-Bear eyed him suspiciously, then snatched the bowl and seemed to down it in one gulp. Dru admonished her again to no effect. Toma held out the cup so she could snatch that too.

While looking out the cell uneasily, Duran glanced back and asked, "We done here? Can we get a move on?"

Thankfully, Goldie came along without making any more of a fuss. The five of them made their way down the corridor and waiting for them at the end were two Ilyrians, a big middle-aged man and a more slightly built youth around Toma's age.

Duran spoke to them in Grelish, saying, "You ain't raisin' the alarm or tryin' ta bash our heads in, so you two mus' be the ones Marius was talkin' 'bout?"

Molly. Wasn't that a girl's name? Wait. The young one was a girl?

Pretty much no one as expecting her answer.

Dru nodded to the She-Bear. Duran looked surprised.

Duran laughed.

He looked to Molly and said, "Whaddye say, Wood? Looks like we might do more good goin' with 'em."

Schwartz looked to Dru and asked, "Yeah, how're ye plannin' on doing all that?"

They went up the stairs and were greeted by the corpse of another guard. He wasn't alone. There were a couple more along the way and in the vestibule where they were first received, the fat sergeant lay slumped over his desk, All their stuff was gathered in a pile to the side. Dru's knife was sitting there on the desk along with a key and a message written in the sergeant's blood.

Duran took the knife off the desk, wiped off the blood on the sergeant's tunic and handed it to Dru.

Dru somewhat reluctantly accepted the knife and looked around self-consciously as she returned it to its sheath. They quickly donned their gear and while they were doing that, Schwartz and Molly were shedding their tunics and caps. Molly untucked her shirt and pulled out a green bonnet and put it on her head.

She knitted her eyebrows in frustration but said nothing.

Molly made a move like she was going to make the smuggler answer for that crack, but Schwartz got between them to hold her back.

Duran gave her a confounded look before coming to the conclusion that it was less trouble to do as she said.

Molly looked at his hand and batted it aside.

Duran offered her his hand again and she grudgingly accepted it. With that done, Duran donned his coat and took the key from the desk.

Toma didn't know how much good his bayonet would do him, but he was glad to have it back. The next time someone wanted to try something with him, they were getting the business end of the bayonet, consequences be damned. He wasn't going to let himself be captured again. There wouldn't be such an easy way out next time, not that they were out yet this time.

They went back to the lower level where they came from. At the other end of the main corridor was another staircase leading down to a second basement level. As they were passing by the blocks of cells, Duran stopped briefly by one cell and told the prisoner inside, "Congratulations, buddy. It's your lucky day," before tossing the guard's keyring inside.

Maybe it was just Toma's imagination, but it seemed like Duran was being strangely defensive about it, almost like he was trying to protect this Marius' reputation. Why would he care what Toma thought of him? He had to be overthinking it.

At the bottom of the staircase was a locked door and the key Marius left behind unlocked it. It was pitch black inside, so Duran looked behind him and said, "Someone get me one a' those lamps off the wall. I can't see shit down here."

Toma found himself once again feeling particularly annoyed at Duran. It seemed to happen a lot whenever he interacted with Dru.

The second basement level seemed to be the donjon's stores. There were casks of wine stacked up along the wall and a lot of crates, It was a wonder how it all fit through the door.

After a little searching, they found a metal grate on the floor that must have led down to the sewers. There was a lock on the grate and when Duran tried using the key, it wouldn't fit.

Given how dark it was with only one lamp among them, searching the place would be easier said than done. Also, what were the chances of finding anything so convenient just lying about?

As they started looking around, Schwartz went over to the wine casks and held his head under the tap, but not nothing for it.

Rather than do any searching herself, the She-Bear—Shaya, she was apparently called—walked over to the grate, crouched down and took hold of it.

As she was grunting and straining, Duran told Dru, "Make her stop. She's never gonna—"

With a forceful jerk, Shaya actually managed to tear the grate loose.

All Duran could say was "Damn..."

Shaya tossed the grate aside while Duran called everyone back. If the rest of the donjon didn't already smell so foul (to say nothing of Shaya), the stench wafting up from the sewer would warrant mention.

Everyone looked at Duran.

Duran lowered himself down the hole, cursing as he misjudged the distance to the bottom. He then called back up, saying, "I got good news an' bad news."

Toma could already feel his stomach churning at the prospect.

Dru started crawling down the hole and Toma took her hands before she went past shoulder level and lowered her down as far as his arms could stretch.

No sooner had Toma let her go than he said, "I'm next"

Toma looked to Goldie and said, "Guess you're after me."

Dru the said something in Shaya's language and after the Adomite responded with some very curt answer, she then said, "Shaya has agreed to go last, so, Mr. Schwartz, Miss Wood, please go after Aurelius."

Molly gave him a dirty look for that.

Toma let himself down. He thought he could climb down more gradually using his feet, but the walls were too slick for that. The drop was about a meter further from where his feet were dangling when his arms were fully extended. He splashed down in ankle-deep water, or at least what he wanted to believe was mostly water but knew better.

Schwartz lowered Goldie down and once Toma got hold of his legs, he said, "Okay. Let go."

Goldie's full weight proved to be a little more than what Toma was expecting, so he had to struggle to keep his balance, not that there was any room to fall down. Toma set Goldie down on his feet. Personally, he didn't enjoy being so close.

Goldie was looking down at his feet when Toma told him, "Go on ahead. I'm right behind you."

He cringed at the thought of getting down on his hands and knees.

When he was taking too long to get down, Toma gave him some help. He was sure Goldie appreciated it.

Admittedly, when it was time for him to get down on his hands and knees too, Toma felt no small reluctance himself. He'd cleaned stables and done other filthy jobs like that. You just have to suppress your natural revulsion and dive right in. Not literally, of course. You can't exactly dive into ankle-deep water, after all.

Once he was down and starting on his way, he called back to the others, "We're clear! Come on down!"

The pipe was cramped and both the sludgy consistency of the water and the overwhelming stench made you want to gag. Toma wanted to hold his breath, but there was no way he could make it the whole way and it'd be so much worse if he was gasping for air while he was still in the pipe. He'd probably pass out from the nausea. The best thing he could do was breathe as shallowly as possible.

Normally three hundred meters would not seem like so great a distance, but when crawling in filth in the dark, it may as well have been kilometers on end. There was just enough light coming in from the end of the pipe that Toma could make out the vague shapes of what was in front of him. As he got closer to the end, the line stopped because Duran was busy trying to kick out the grate on the end of the pipe. Either he went in backwards from the start or he inexplicably managed to get himself turned around, which really didn't seem physically possible.

Each word was punctuated with a kick and he finally made this animalistic shout on the kick that successfully dislodged the grate. It took a few more kicks to completely knock it loose. Duran then exited the pipe and splashed down below. Before Dru could exit, he called back to her, "Hol' up, lil' lady. This pool's pretty deep. Can you swim?"

Goldie didn't respond, at least not verbally, so Dru then asked, "Toma, can you swim?"

She then said in Grelish, "Mr. Schwartz, Miss Wood, the sewer drains into a rather deep pool. Mr. Duran can help you across if you can't swim. Can either of you swim?"

Dru then spoke in Adomite to Shaya, whose reply was little more than a grunt.

Toma was pretty sure he heard a grumbled "dammit" before Duran said, "Alright. One at a time, startin' with you, lil' lady."

And so they went one at a time jumping out of the pipe into the pool below. When it was Toma's turn, he was sure to keep his mouth shut tight, but that didn't stop water from going up his nose. Although he couldn't really swim, he at least didn't feel the need to flail about in the water, which made Duran's job easier when he took hold of him and pulled him over to the edge of the pool. Now, Toma had been dirty plenty of times in the past. He was a boy, after all, but never in his life did he ever feel so completely soaked in filth. Whatever fate Zadok had planned for him almost seemed preferable in that moment.

His efforts to hold back any longer failed and he vomited up everything that was in his stomach, along with several minutes of dry heaving that accomplished nothing. When he was done throwing up, Toma looked to Dru, who was putting on a brave face despite looking positively miserable, and then to Goldie, who just looked miserable. They waited while Duran brought over Schwartz, Molly and Shaya. Shaya didn't take to the water too well and nearly drowned the both of them. There was much cursing, but Duran eventually got her over.

Once they were all out of the pool, Duran looked at their thoroughly befouled party, then glanced at Shaya and said, "Well, now we all smell like shit. Dammit. I liked this coat. Prolly hafta burn it now."

Indeed, the overflow from the pool was channeled into a nearby creek. The water was only about knee-deep, but it had to be cleaner than the sewer. Upstream of the runoff, of course. Toma didn't want to think of other sewers that may have drained into the creek. He held himself under and rubbed all over quite vigorously to get out as much of the grime as he could. He may not have come out smelling like a rose, but at least he was not nearly as rank and it didn't feel like the filth was sticking to every sench of his body.

He was so eager to get cleaned off that he didn't really notice it at first, but once he was out of the creek, a gust of wind reminded him that this wasn't exactly the warmest of nights. Once again, Dru was trying to put up a strong front even as she was shaking like a leaf.

Dru nodded.

They travelled through most of the night, Toma had hoped his clothes would dry after an hour or two of walking, but they only went from sopping wet to thoroughly damp, not much of an improvement. The area was mostly open country, rolling hills with few trees and little sign of habitation besides the occasional farmstead and one or two distant flocks of either sheep or goats.

They stayed off the roads but kept close enough to keep them in view. Just as it was getting close to the dawn, they were able to find the ruins of a burned-out farmstead. Enough of the house was still standing to provide some shelter. It wouldn't do them much good if it started to rain, but the sky seemed mostly clear.

Duran spread his arms out theatrically and said, "Anyone else here wanna take charge? Be my guest. How 'bout it, Blondie?"

Dru put a hand on Goldie's shoulder, saying, "Aurelius, Mr. Duran knows what he's doing. He is perhaps the best of us when it comes to surviving."

It seemed that no one else was willing to join Goldie in opposing Duran effectively claiming leadership of their group, so they went about their assigned tasks. The men next to work dismantling the remnants of a shed, prying the boards loose and breaking them down. The wood was old and dry and the parts that hadn't been burned were leached of most of their color. Each of the four of them carried in an armload, which Duran figured would be enough for as long as they were staying. The house had a dirt floor and Shaya had dug a shallow pit in the middle, with her bare hands judging from the dirt caked to her fingers.

As Duran was getting the fire pit ready, Molly returned, so he asked her, "How's the well?"

She shook her head.

With a little work, he got the fire started and when he did, he said, "Alright, folks, we got three jobs: watchin' the fire, keepin' lookout, an' restin'." He paused. "Oh, an' take off your clothes."

Accepting Duran's explanation, Dru then translated for Shaya, who without any hesitation or embarrassment stripped out of her prison rags.

Toma didn't know who blushed harder: Goldie, Dru or himself. Other than an accidental glance once or twice, he didn't think he'd ever seen a naked woman before. Definitely not like this, just out there in the open. Toma was polite enough to look away, but not before he got a decent view. Shaya wasn't the sort of woman you'd normally see, thick-muscled and covered in old scars that really stood out on her tawny skin.

Toma, Goldie, Schwartz and Molly all undressed down to their shirts, which left them well enough covered, though Goldie was self-consciously pulling down his shirttail. Dru was down to her chemise and pantalettes, which honestly didn't leave her much less covered than usual, though her arms were exposed and Toma could catch just a glimpse of her shapely calves.

Duran, however, was second only to Shaya, wearing nothing more than a breechcloth. Dru blushed anew, but only briefly as her attention was drawn to the extensive bruising from the Professor's work.

Duran grinned as awkward glances were exchanged, but again showing no hesitation, Shaya embraced Dru from behind and pulled her in close. Dru started blushing again, but who could blame her?

Despite his earlier eagerness to warm himself by the fire, he put his trousers and boots back on without a word of complaint and headed out the door, or at least where the door would've been if it were still standing.

Duran continued, "I'll take second watch. Kid, you take third an', Ranger girl, you take fourth. Hour before your watch, you need ta be mindin' the fire. We clear."

Toma hadn't really paid much attention to Molly before now. She was a little on the plain side but still a girl about his age and the thought of the two of them snuggling by the fire with only a couple layers of cloth between them was a little embarrassing. For some reason, he looked to Dru as if he was seeking her advice or approval or something. She looked a little annoyed. Why was that?

Flustered, Toma stammered, "Wh-what the hell're you talkin' 'bout!?"

Not that he fancied the idea of snuggling with Goldie, Toma glanced over at him.

Well, that settled that.

Toma lied down by the fire, close enough to get its warmth but not so close he had to worry about any jumping embers if the wood popped. Molly got behind him, close enough that he could feel her but not pressed up tight like you would expect from someone seeking warmth. It seemed she was crossing her arms in front of her so her breasts wouldn't squish into his back. Not that she had much there anyway, much unlike the unexpectedly well-endowed Shaya. Then again, Shaya may have been closer to average and just seemed big compared to the much more slightly built Dru and Molly. He really needed to stop thinking about it or he was never going to get to sleep.

If he managed to fall asleep, it was over before he knew it. He felt Duran lightly shake his shoulder and say, "You're up, kid. Watch the fire."

The dirt floor of the farmhouse was arguably less comfortable than the stone floor of the donjon because at least there they had straw. But here there was a fire, so give and take. The point was that he didn't know whether to be thankful or grudging for having to get up.

When Duran went out the door to relieve Schwartz, Toma could overhear them talking.

Schwartz then came inside and Toma pretended he hadn't been eavesdropping. Once he'd taken off his boots and hung up his trousers, Schwartz sat own by the fire to warm himself. They didn't say anything to each other, but when Schwartz reclined on his side, he said, "Keep a close eye on that fire, kid. Enjoy it while ye can. It's a mite nippy out."

Toma nodded. Schwartz glanced over at Dru, who was still wrapped in Shaya's brawny arms. The two of them had fallen asleep sitting up. They way Shaya had been chained up for so long, lying down to sleep probably didn't feel natural to her anymore. Dru was no doubt too tired for it to bother her, not that she was likely to get free of that bear hug even if she wanted to.

Toma continued to watch the fire and wondered about Schwartz's conversation with Duran. There was more to the smuggler than what he appeared to be. What would that mean for them and their journey?